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Starlight F-59 Skylegend
The Starlight F-59 Skylegend is an advanced single seat inter and exo atmospheric fighter with some light fighter bomber capabilities. The F-59 was developed to replaced it's predecessor, the F-57 Skylegend. The craft was the result of years of intense labour and research. The result would be the most expensive aeronautics design programme ever implemented. Development Starlight initially contracted the F-59 programme as a way to modify the existing F-57 and extend it's life span. The previous F-57 rejuvination programme altered the aging design to be built entirely out of carbon nanostructures. The air ministry issued a specification to replace the F-57 during the beginnings of the F-59 programme, but Starlight was opting out of building a new fighter because of the cost overuns with the F-57 and the poor likelihood of an emerging successor anytime in the future. However, the research department at Starlight made a breakthrough in reprogrammeable carbon structures, allowing the wing to change shape in flight without sophisticated electronics, (A GDA voodoo since the EMP disasters) and negating the need for cumbersome control surfaces. This breakthrough was implemented on a F-57 mule when designers came with a concept to mate the technology to the fuselage to provide the airframe with highly advanced maneouvering capabilites, stable hypersonic speeds, and excellent deep space dynamics. This meant that a clean sheet design had to be conceived from the ground up and Starlight decided that it was going to chase the specification and drop the F-57 programme. The basis for the airframe would be a modular tub that would mount a purely fusion driven crystal hydrogen reactor with capabilities to use crystal hydrogen anti-electron valence fusion, a flexible mounted engine drive, and anti-gravity generator and an attachment for a vertical pod that would make the cockpit. Because of the high standards of design, the target goal of the project was to have every ship being as light and as small as possible, easily being dwarfed by other fighters. This goal was 14 feet long, a maximum of 32 feet wide (variable width) and a target weight of 750 pounds. In order to achieve this, the cockpit would have to stand the pilot almost vertically, giving him a very large windscreen and an excellent field of view unsurpassed in the aeronautics industry. Starlight's ambitious goals mean that many aspects of the development had to be sub-contracted to various companies. One of the most prominent features to be contracted was the weapons system, which involved tilting and rotating crystal hydrogen cannons, four facing the front and two facing the rear, two long range rail guns and a sleek bomb bay for improvised weapons. A separate company developed the targeting system, many small aspects of the mechanics or airframe and a joint venture between starlight and various sub-contractors developed the instrumentation. The first completed prototypes were completed 5 years behind the air-ministry's specification target for the availability of production variants. The competition wielded no suitable candidates from the competition which meant that despite major cost overruns and prolonged development time, Starlight was almost guaranteed a contract based on the excellent performance of the prototypes. In the interim, the air ministry extended the life of the F-57 beyond the expected life of the airframe and modify Barracuda's as a stop-gap method. Service The arrival of the production variants of the F-59 Skylegend was long overdue as the desperate measures to replenish the fighter stockpiles failed to satisfy GDA. A very large production contract was awarded to Starlight based on it's ability to convince the air ministry that the F-59 airframe was able to survive for many years of service. At the time of the first deliveries, the F-59 programme had cost the air ministry, Starlight and the many sub-contractors over 100 Billion Tarns. However, the end result was worth the investment as the Skylegend quickly outmatched the capabilities of all the opposing factions fighters.